


Looking at the sky

by Kit_Amongst_The_Pigeons



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23698405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kit_Amongst_The_Pigeons/pseuds/Kit_Amongst_The_Pigeons
Summary: The morning after the night at the archway.
Kudos: 9





	Looking at the sky

Dawn broke soft over Kepler.

Golden light lit first the tips of the pine trees and then glinted off the hot-springs behind the empty shell of Amnesty Lodge. Eventually, it made its sluggish way through the windows of Duck’s small apartment. 

There, it illuminated Aubrey, who was stood, leaning against the kitchen table, still clad in the dirty clothing that she had been wearing the night before. Heavy, purple bags hung under her eyes, as she stared, unseeing, at the change in the sky, her hands wrapped around a mug of coffee that was nearly cold.

_You lied._

Her fingertips went white and the tendons in the back of her hands flexed and tightened. She let out a slow, shaky breath from between her teeth, but the weight on her chest stayed put.

_I hate you._

Heat broiled in her stomach and bright flames began to dance along the surface of her skin, twisting and writhing like snakes. She caught a glimpse of herself reflected in the window. A mad woman she had never met stared back at her from amber eyes. 

_I better not see your face again._

The mug shattered against the wall, coffee splashing back against her face, but the energy inside her hadn’t dissipated and it forced her to slam her hands down against the work surface, sparks burning lines into the wood and ceramic shards cutting into her palms. 

“Damn it! God fucking damn it.”

The kitchen fluttered in and out of focus, treated wood becoming rough bark, linoleum dirt, the pool of coffee something darker, thicker. She lifted her hands from the countertop and stared down at the marks she had left, black dotted with red, but felt nothing. Not pain in her hands, or heat in her skin, or even the gentle touch of fingers around her wrists.

“Aubrey.”

The soft word, neither question, nor admonishment, cut through the incessant noise in her head and she looked up to see Duck, still in his rumpled pyjamas, hoodie slung on haphazardly and half falling off one shoulder, but with a weariness in his eyes that no amount of sleep could remove. She looked down at her hands again, and suddenly, she could feel every piece of ceramic as the blood welled around them.

She let him lead her to table and sat as he pulled each piece out with deft fingers and a pair of tweezers until he could wrap a bandage around her hands. When that was done, he put the kettle on and began to move around the kitchen, methodically cleaning up the mess that she had left behind. It wasn’t until he turned his back to her that she realised the hoodie he was wearing was branded with the Cryptonomica logo. She’d seen them hung in the gift shop, of course, because if there was one thing that Ned knew, it was how to monetise a great idea, but she had no idea that Duck had one. It was old and worn, with a couple of holes and some coffee stains, but it looked soft and warm.

“I’m so angry.”

Aubrey’s admission startled her, but Duck didn’t even flinch, sliding a fresh mug of coffee over to her and sitting down.

“I want to burn this whole town to the ground and breathe in the smoke as I scream.”

“Burning down Kepler would take the forest with it, so I can’t let you do that, but I won’t deny smashing something seems good right about now.”

“I was only supposed to drop in for a week, a town over. I was never supposed to be here.”

“That’s what Ned always said. Said he’d be leaving town next week, every week, for years. There’s something in the water here, makes it hard to leave.”

“No, there’s something in the people.” Aubrey stared down at her neatly wrapped hands and the cup of coffee, made exactly how she liked it, mostly milk and sugar, with a hint of coffee, and the stupid bigfoot patch on her vest that Barclay had bought her for a laugh. “You can’t not connect with them.”

“We’ll stop this, Aubrey. I know it seems impossible right now, but somehow we’ll pull it out of the proverbial bag – we always have before.”

“We had Ned before.”

In the moment of silence that followed her observation, they could hear the other people in the flat beginning to move. They hadn’t really had another place for people to stay, given the FBI presence in the town, and they would need all the help they could get to end this thing once and for all, but as they looked at each other in the dawn light, they couldn’t help but wish that they had a little more time to look back before they had to charge forwards.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow - it's been a really long time since I posted anything, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with a short one. :)


End file.
